Publishers Focus on Retention to Keep New Subscribers

August 31, 2021

If you're looking for a new skill or job role, you might check out subscriber retention. Publishers are bulking up their staff to hold onto the new subscribers and members they attracted during the pandemic.

As we see traffic dropping after pandemic highs, the focus shifts back to loyalty and retention. And that is why I'm highlighting the decline in traditional pay-TV subscriptions in Canada. It has dropped below 50%, and the US is expected to drop below 50% in 2027. People are shifting around their personal media budgets, and it's important to consider where they are shifting those budgets to. It definitely seems to be away from traditional media.

I also have highlighted a couple of pieces about COVID information. It can definitely be confusing, and one parent, with ties to journalism and media, explains for Nieman Journalism Lab, how difficult he is finding it in finding good information.

But I also wanted to highlight how other outlets, thinking beyond stories and Q&As to think about data and texting. This is smart product thinking.

Plus, the death of a hyperlocal outlet covering Brooklyn. Fatigue of another kind. Forbes joins the SPAC crowd and more about Vice's pivot to video 2.0.

In 2020, subscription revenue for publishers grew 16%, according to a study by subscription management platform Zuora.

There is a job opportunity here: Retention specialists.

eMarketer says Canadian pay TV penetration falls below 50% next year. When will it happen in the US? It depends on how you calculate it.

See above piece about 'subscription fatigue'.

In the three weeks leading up to my kid’s first day of class, there were literally zero stories in the News & Observer about most back-to-school matters in Durham. There were tons of stories about mask fights and an escaped cobra.

COVID-19 information problem for parents ...

Over the past few months, the Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism, in partnership with News414, has been developing a spreadsheet full of resources for those struggling to afford food during the pandemic in the Milwaukee area. 

...and a possible solution.

Forbes announced this morning that it is going public via a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC).

We highlighted a spicy piece yesterday about SPAC-financed media, and we have another example today about publishers, in this case Forbes, turning to SPACs.

It is with great sadness that I let you know that Bklyner will stop publishing on September 10, with no immediate date or plans for resuming.

The death of a hyperlocal site in Brooklyn, and this farewell from the publisher speaks to the pressures on sustainability, not only financially but also personally.

For reporters satellite data offers unique opportunities for original investigations and visual storytelling. But how do you get started? And what should you be looking out for? In a guest post for the Online Journalism Blog, MA Data Journalism student Niels de Hoog speaks to four journalists who regularly work with satellite data about how…

A good guide on some cutting-edge work.

Vice has reorganized the ranks of its digital arm to prioritize video, formally putting a video-focused executive at the helm of its digital arm.

A less snarky view of what Vice is up to now. Publishing fewer words and going after vertical video. This feels very much like the platform strategy of a few years back. One thing to stress here: Audience size is not necessarily directly related to revenue.